Date for your diary - come and see me in Gloucester!

Might you be anywhere near Gloucester on Sat 7 April (Easter Saturday)? I am delighted to announce that I will be having a stall at the inaugural MADE market, an initiative by theMADEproject, which will take place at Gloucester Guildhall from 10am to 4pm. Do come if you can - I am working on getting a good selection ready for the day, including art, accessories and homewares, some of which will be new lines. More details nearer the time!

Sock toe triumph

Some of you will know that I have for some time been wrestling with the idea of knitting socks - the idea is to spin self-striping yarn and make truly funky socks. I can do the spinning yarn bit, and I can knit, but knitting socks is something else altogether! After taking a lot of advice and reading a large number of recommended books, articles and patterns, I decided to go with the instructions in Socks from the toe up by Wendy Johnson. She gives a basic sock 'recipe' which can be easily adapted, which is what I need - once I have got the hang of it, I can change the elements to suit my own design, I just need to understand the basic construction.

And, dear reader, I am half way there! Today's triumph is the toe - I have produced my first toe, using Judy's Magic Cast-On which you can also see at www.persistentillusion.com/blogblog/techniques/magic-cast-onwww.persistentillusion.com/blogblog/techniques/magic-cast-on if you are so inclined. As with so many knitting patterns, it is ever so much easier to do than to describe.

I am now off to find some suitable wool (what I was using today was just some scrap handspun) and needles, and then I am going to attempt a WHOLE SOCK - including the next challenge, THE HEEL! Watch this space...

Those of you who knit socks in your sleep will no doubt be amused/dismissive about my little triumph, but the idea of knitting socks has always scared me - my mother once knitted me a pair of white lacy ankle socks when I was small, and it took months and much cursing, so I think my impression that this was A Really Hard Thing To Knit was instilled early...